本課程旨在探討疆域龐大且由多元民族構成的清朝，為維持帝國運作，在統治策略與政府機構的設計上，兼具承襲與創新的特色。再者，清統治者積極經營邊疆，設置有別於前朝的新機構，對於維繫清帝與各民族之間上下統治關係的作用。另外，雖然明清交替之際，東南各省受到戰亂波及而有短暫的沉寂，但是隨著戰爭的平息，物產與經濟的恢復，商人集團的再興以及清帝的南巡等因素，促使文藝創作的活躍以及庭園造景的講究，形塑出輝煌燦爛的盛清文化。

This course aims to explore the Qing Dynasty, which had a vast territory and was composed of diverse ethnic groups. In order to maintain the operation of the empire, the design of ruling strategies and government agencies featured both inheritance and innovation. Furthermore, the Qing rulers actively managed the frontiers and set up new institutions that were different from those of the previous dynasties, which played a role in maintaining the upper-lower ruling relationship between the Qing emperor and various ethnic groups. In addition, although at the turn of the Ming and Qing dynasties, the southeastern provinces were affected by war and experienced a brief period of silence, the cessation of the war, the recovery of property and the economy, the resurgence of merchant groups, and the Qing emperor's southern tour, etc., promoted the active literary and artistic creation and the exquisiteness of garden landscaping, shaping the splendid Qing culture.

羅威廉(William T. Rowe)著；李仁淵、張遠譯，《中國最後的帝國》，台北：台大出版中心，2013年。

Written by William T. Rowe; translated by Li Renyuan and Zhang Yuan, "China's Last Empire", Taipei: National Taiwan University Publishing Center, 2013.